In the fourth quarter of 2025, vivo ranked first among Chinese brands in shipments, and in actual retail sale-out data it has maintained the lead for two consecutive years. The simultaneous launch of the vivo X300 series and iQOO 15 series helped vivo secure a top-three position among domestic brands in the high-end market above $600. At the same time, the S series and iQOO models ensured competitiveness in the mainstream price segment.
OPPO followed closely in second place among Chinese brands. In Q4, OPPO stood out among leading domestic brands, becoming the only one to achieve year-on-year shipment growth of more than 10%. Thanks to the popularity of the Find X9 series, especially the Pro version with a significantly higher sales share, OPPO achieved year-on-year shipment growth in the high-end segment above $600.
As reported last month, sources from the supply chain, industry analysis agencies, and insiders from multiple smartphone brands revealed that domestic brands including OPPO, OnePlus, vivo, iQOO, Xiaomi, and Honor have finalized price increase plans. Some brands have already issued price adjustment notices to offline distributors and online channel partners.
March will be the critical turning point for this round of price hikes. After March, the pace of increases will accelerate: older models already on the market will see relatively moderate adjustments, while new models released after March will face much steeper hikes. The minimum increase will not be less than 1,000 yuan, and mid-to-high-end flagship models may rise by 2,000–3,000 yuan.
This wave of smartphone price hikes is directly linked to the shortage of memory chips and soaring costs. Tech blogger “Digital Chat Station” noted: “Many people may not realize the current memory prices. In Q1, the BOM cost of 16GB LPDDR5x + 1TB UFS 4.1 has already surpassed that of Snapdragon 8E5. In Q2, memory prices will rise further.”
Looking ahead, the pricing space for consumer products will only shrink further. Faced with relentless shortages and rising costs, manufacturers either follow the trend of price hikes or cut product specifications. However, it is difficult to reverse the imbalance between supply and demand. For ordinary consumers, buying a smartphone with high cost-performance will only become increasingly difficult.
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